First Tallest
by Chaotica
Summary: From slaves to masters...the Irken Empire is born from the one who stands taller than the rest.
1. part 1

(A/N: I took down 'History of a Race' cause I didn't like it anymore. So now I bring you this! It's version of the first one, I like it better like this.)  
  
First Tallest  
  
"Attention!"  
The sound of a hundred or so booted feet snapping together filled the great hall. They were fine soldiers, even if they were those filthy green Irken creatures.   
The Illians had enslaved the race long ago. They had been small but feisty creatures that fought each other for their 'hive'. Insect-like reptiles. Cold-blooded, green, with antenna that were insanely sensitive. If left to their own devices they bred like rats. Suppressors kept that from happening to the highly prized females of the race. They were far too important to be hindered by pregnancy.  
The bird like Illian leaders glanced over the Irken troop. One of the creatures stood taller than the rest. A lot taller than the rest. It was a genetic glitch they couldn't quite figure out, or erase for that matter.  
The faded blue bird paced on a walking-bar to stand before the tall Irken. "Speak your name slave." He cooed at it.  
"Heve." The Irken said. He seemed to be starring forward, but it was hard to tell with an Irken, their whole eye was one color. This one happened to be red eyed. Like so many.  
"Do you wish to serve your master properly?" The Illian asked tilting his head.  
"Yes." Was the simple and very correct reply.  
The Illian nodded. "Then you will be an Invader, be proud." He struck out a wing and hit the tall Irken in the chest.  
Heve didn't react. He stood stock still until his master told him to do other wise. Programming from even before his birth willed him to do it.   
"Report to 'Blue Deck'. You leave now."  
***  
And that was all it had happened.   
Heve crouched under the shade of some boulders. It was horribly hot here. His body ached from the small position but he was stuck. It was either here or suffer in the sun.  
This was no real world. The inhabitants had died long before he'd even arrived. And now the armada was delayed.   
He was afraid he was slipping.  
"They don't care about me." He said in a hoarse voice. He immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.   
No! He was not a traitor, traitors died for words like that!  
His eyes darted around.   
But who was to report him? The dust?  
He burst out laughing, a hysterical sound. He put his hand over his mouth again.  
He closed his dry red eyes. He was not a defect. He was a true believer in his masters. Even as he thought those words they were hollow to him.  
Illians couldn't even fly, their beaks were hardly sharp and they had no talons to speak of. An Irken may be soft bodied but there were enough of them to take on the entire population of the...  
No, no, no, no! He wouldn't be a traitor! He wouldn't!  
..He would..  
He suddenly twitched his whole body contorting in pain. He could feel the blocks and instruction he'd received from birth breaking apart. If it didn't hurt so much he might be enjoying it.   
But it DID hurt. It hurt a lot.   
And suddenly he saw it. Those Illians...they would be no match for a slave uprising. They were lazy, they did nothing for themselves. They even had to enslave a race of people that hadn't cared about what was above till they arrived. Enslaved them to help in their conquest of the universe since they were already so good at invading on their own. His people, he could free them.   
Couldn't he?  
A blinding flash crossed his vision as another wave of pain hit. Another synapse gone down somewhere inside. He screamed not only in pain but in rage. Rage at what his life had been forced to be.   
He had once been ordered to destroy a group of defects. They had been infants, barely able to stand right. The only thing wrong with them was that their eyes were mismatched red and purple. A sign that something was wrong in their brains. They would never be able to speak correctly or have the right kind of motor control.  
They were defective.  
He had...had...  
He hit his head trying to drive that one memory away only to have it replaced by another.  
  
~Don't fight me slave!~  
~Plase master I beg of you don't!~  
~Oh you'll beg. You'll beg.~  
  
"AUUGH!" Heves' scream of rage filled a sun filled landscape with not a single life form to hear it. His hands dropped to his leg, to where the scar was. "Help me, help me, help me." He chanted rocking back and forth.  
He didn't know if it was his mind fighting free, or the heat, but he heard it. A voice.   
'Fight back.'  
His eyes opened and he looked out through dry eyes. "What?"  
'Fight them.'  
The voice was from his own head, his freed mind talking back. "How can I?"  
'Free others, take a ship, kill them all.'  
Heve rubbed his hands over his head, dry skin flaked off. Yes...that would work.  
'Of course it will.'  
He looked unblinkingly into the desert around him. "Of course it will." 


	2. part 2

(A/N: Wooo! Two chapters in one night!  
  
First Tallest  
  
He sat quietly with his brothers. Shorter Irkens that eyed him carefully and with respect. There were fifteen including him. He had survived two whole years alone on a planet one could only call hell.  
Heve rarely blinked, he was breathing slowly but evenly. He finally looked down when he neighbor pressed something into his hand. It was food.  
Red eyes blinked at the smaller being.  
"You should eat Heve, you need your strength."  
Violet eyes, he looked so sure yet so afraid. It was all he could do to move to comfort him. One slave did not touch another like that.  
"Thank you brother." He said finally eating. He noticed a few from the reconnaissance team relaxing as he did.  
The violet eyed one beside him nodded, pleased.   
"The masters will be happy to have you back."  
He held back a bitter laugh. Can't let them know he broke. "I am already happy to back in their care."  
The ship shuddered. The other Irkens glanced about worriedly. None liked entering the atmosphere. It made them motion sick.  
Only Heve didn't look anywhere but straight ahead.  
The violet-eyed Irken called Ghar noticed this and was afraid. He was worried for his brother, that he was defective. Suddenly large red eyes met his and he jerked back.   
A concerned look crossed the taller ones face. "Is all well brother?"  
Ghar nodded hastily. "All is always well, when with the."  
"Masters." Heve interrupted. "Of course it is."  
Heve nodded slowly. This purple-eyed one beside him had a weak set of programs. They had probably been damaged without anyone noticing. This one would be the first he freed.  
***  
Small hands gripped the edge of the table as extra legs boosted him up. He stood on the table, violet eyes glancing at everything. Anything that he had only seen through humbled slave eyes, until now.  
"How do you feel?"  
His head turned to that voice. Different than most Irkens it told immediately that its owner was tall.  
They were in Heve's quarters. Invader slaves got large rewards for their dangerous task of infiltration and conquering. He had Ghar listed as 'resting' in the slave barracks between energy consuming jobs. He had subdued the violet-eyed Irken with a sedative and had kept him for days now. Wearing away at the caps and walls until the smaller creature had screamed and cried and finally cursed his masters freely.  
"Different." Ghar said. His eye twitched and he held a hand to his head. "Will it always hurt?"  
Heve rubbed his head, remembering those headaches. "No, mine have subsided entirely now."  
Ghar paced to the edge of the high table and sat down. He looked like a child. "What is it I do now?" He asked.  
Heve put a hand on his shoulder. "You have to continue to be a slave. Do as the Illians order. We have to be careful."  
Ghar nodded. "I understand. But in some ways I'm still a slave. It's all I've known."  
"It's all any of us have known. But I promise, we will know something else, something great."   
Ghar didn't look entirely convinced. "Can you really promise that?"  
"I *swear* to it." Heve said. He knew it was safe here. Illians didn't watch their slaves relentlessly. They relied on their programming too much. It would be their downfall. "We have to be very ver careful though. If we are found out, we die."  
"I know."  
"We will go slowly, take in other like ourselves, with weak programs. Ones that are damaged. But only Irkens. No other race."  
Ghar nodded again. "I understand."  
Heve lifted a hand. "Don't say it like a slave." His hand clenched into a fist. "Say it like an Irken."  
Purple-eyes lifted off the ground, only Irken eyes could see the pupil move. "I will trust only my own kind."  
Heve smiled and nodded slightly. His face suddenly fell and he jerked back away from Ghar.  
Startled the newly freed slave curled up on the table. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing." He turned away. "Nothing, I'm sorry." He took a few steps forward to his sleeping room. "The suppressors. You may want to continue to take them."  
"Sure Heve." Ghar said blinking in confusion. "If you say so."  
Heve only nodded slightly and disappeared into the other room. 


	3. part 3

(A/N: Yes I insinuate a lot between them...but come on, the only time they've seen a female Irken would be from through a window.)  
  
First Tallest  
  
The Illian eyed the Irkens around him. "Stand down slaves!" He squawked trying to find a way through the throng. Some of the Irkens lifted themselves up on their extra legs that were part of their cybernetic implants that kept them from constant injury.  
"I'll have you all destroyed!" The now very frightened Illian squealed.   
"You'll do no such thing."  
He started to breathe heavily when the circle of slaves parted. A tall being came into the dim light.  
"You are one of many Illian Overlords we have dispatched." The tall Irken said with blazing red eyes. "These Irkens you see are no longer your slaves."  
"No, all lesser beings bow to the Illian might!" The Avian being puffed up his chest feathers.  
There was a sick crack as metal hit bone. Heve snarled at the fallen Illian as he held the 'Discipline Rod' in one hand. It would normally deliver a shock along with the blow, but Heve had turned it off.  
"Illian might is at an end." There was a soft murmur from the collection. "Too bad you won't witness it."  
The Illian opened one eye slightly. "You can't."  
Heve waved a hand at the writhing creature. "We can." He turned to the ring of Irkens. "End him if you wish."   
The Illian shuddered violently as the small but innately violent creatures descended on him.   
Heve didn't watch, he didn't have to. He had witnessed and taken part in many like it. The Illian would be beaten and taunted and finally his neck broken just after he passed out from pain.  
A small figure stood off to the side in front of Heve. Wide violet eyes blinked slowly. "Another lost to us." Ghar said.  
"Yes."  
The two had originally thought they would fight for their freedom and free all the races under Illian command. Then they discovered their natural Irken tendencies. Reactions that had been buried under internal commands and suppressant drugs.  
Irkens were not only violent they craved the feeling of control. Invasion was not just their purpose to the Illians it was in their blood.  
"We have control of the slave distribution offices. The larger part of our collection will be put on 'The Ultimate'." Ghar said as he walked alongside Heve. The taller Irken slowed his pace for the smaller one.  
"Will the females I suggested be on board?"   
Ghar nodded. "Seven that we found with obvious weak programs."  
"Wonderful." Heve put a hand down on Ghars' shoulder stooping a bit. He stopped when Ghar jerked back hissing sharply. "What is it?"  
Ghar shook his head. "Nothing, my overseer was a bit, excited, when I dropped a dish in the kitchens."  
"Have you had it looked at?"  
"No I'm fine."  
Heve glanced at the others. There were maybe a dozen freed Irkens down in the maintenance corridors they used for taking down Illians. Plus it was very dark.  
"Let me look then."  
"Heve, I'm fine. Really."  
Heve motioned to a spot of light from the wide-spaced lamps in the corridor. "Sit there, and don't make me pull rank on you."  
Ghar finally sat down in the light. He winced as he did.  
Heve sat down behind him. "Off with the jacket. I have to see it."  
Ghar moved slowly and took off the thin jacket that was to keep him warm in the cold barracks.   
Heve once more glanced around. No one was about. The others that had been taking care of the Illian were still back there. He turned back to Ghar finding a dark green blotch along his thin arm going up under his shirt to his neck. "Mother of Irk." He said, a curse that had sprung up among the freed. "Take off your shirt, it's worse than I thought."   
Ghar did so quietly his Utility pack had been removed from his back by overseers so it wasn't that hard. Heve shifted a bag had been carrying with him to his lap. He opened it taking out the few medical supplies they could get away with stealing. He took out a cream pain reliever. "I'm sorry if this hurts when I put it on."  
Ghar nearly bit his tongue off as Heve worked. He had wondered how bad the Overseer had worked him over. The reach of the pain went over his arm, up his neck and down the right side of his back.  
"I don't feel anything broken. You got off lucky."  
"Ow."  
"Sorry." Heve paused. A scar ran down the small Irkens back. Probably an old whip lash from when he was in training. The only used whips on ten-year-old Irkens. They healed more quickly from it than older ones.  
"We all have them Heve."  
Heve put the cap back on the cream. "I know."  
Ghar pulled his shirt back on carefully. "And you promise to make sure no Irken ever bears these scars again."  
"I guess I say things like that a lot."  
"And you always mean it." Ghar said standing up. He put his jacket back on. "That's why we still follow you."  
"You should go, you'll be missed in the barracks."  
Ghar nodded. "I'll see you on 'The Ultimate' then."  
There was a pause. A nice one Heve had felt between them often. "I'll see you." He watched Ghar disappear in the shadows.  
He eventually got back up and headed to his quarters. He would need his sleep for what lie ahead. 


	4. part 4

(A/N: Man, I'm the one writing this and *I'm* hating those Illian bastards...WARNING, insinuation to some bad stuff, if you're light of heart, don't go to far.)  
  
First Tallest  
  
Irkens milled about the ship 'The Ultimate' in an orderly fashion. They nodded respectfully to Illian overseers and were all the perfect image of humble slaves.  
They were on their way to a mining camp a few sectors over. It would be a long trip so the slaves were let to roam around and ordered to keep in shape. They always did as they were told.  
On the bridge the captain, an aged Illian and the only one on the bridge, sat watching the stars streak by. He despised the fact that so many Irkens had been put on his ship. He didn't see why so many had been scheduled to go. They were pathetic miners.  
His head turned at the sound of a slight disturbance. His old eyes blinked at the sight of a tall Irken flanked by a small purple eyed one with a dark cloak and hood and a second that looked ready for battle. "What is it slave?" The Illian asked turning his body around on the walking-bar.  
The Tall Irken stopped barely a few feet from the master creature. He wore the clothing of an Invader drone. He blinked wide red eyes. "I am no slave."  
At first the Illian thought he had heard wrong. "What?" It was more of a hiss than anything.  
"I am Heve, leader of the Irken people. You will stand down as Captain of this vessel and give it to me."  
The Illians feathers ruffled in agitation. "Guards! Take this defective to the brig." He turned back to Heve in arrogance. "Stand down now slave and you will not be punished too severally." When no one moved the Illian blinked in the first fear he'd ever felt.  
Heve looked down at Ghar who had come with him. "I tried." He then pulled a hand laser from his side and shot the Captain between his wide-set eyes.  
The bird fell over convulsing.  
As Heve holstered his weapon he turned to the all Irken crew. "I am now Captain of this ship. Do any of you wish to challenge me in this?"  
No one moved.  
Heve nodded. "Then round up the rest of the Illians. We have work to do."  
The cheers rose high for a very long time.  
***  
"Tallest one, sir!"  
Heve turned biting back a smile at his new title. "Yes?"  
"We found a few." The smaller Irken paused. "A few slaves in one of the Illains quarters." He looked down. "They seem to be 'special' ones."  
~No master please!~  
"I understand. Take me to them."  
Ghar had heard that tone before. It was drenched in worry. He followed Heve and the other Irken to the Illians quarters.   
Inside were two small Irkens with pale red eyes. They looked very afraid.  
Ghar kept an eye on Heve. He looked as though he were seeing a ghost.  
Heve bent over and talked quietly with the small Irkens. They cringed a lot but replied. Heve would alternately touch their shoulders as he spoke.   
Ghar exchanged looks with the Guard Irken.  
Eventually Heve stood up, a motion that startled the two slaves. "Take them to be freed. Keep someone with them, they've been given Gehoa."  
"Yes sir."  
Ghar didn't really pay attention as the slaves were lead away. "What is Gehoa?"  
At first the tall Irken didn't respond. He sat down on a chair in the room and steepled his thin fingers. "It's a chemical. It neutralizes the suppressors we are given and allows an Irken to." He paused. "Feel things. It also renders the suppressors useless, for the rest of the Irkens' life. It leaves them open to sensations and needs." He wrapped his long arms around himself.  
"And how do you know of it?" Ghar couldn't help but ask. Just before Heve could answer he reached out and touched his shoulder. He saw the same reflexive twitch in the antenna that the two slaves had given at it.  
Heves' eyes shut tight. "Because I was given it."  
***  
It hurt. That's all there was, the hurting.  
"Mi'ika, I knew you had your fetishes but this is perverted."  
The voice of a master. Oh no, not now. Not while he couldn't move to serve.  
"Oh do be quiet. He's a beautiful one. He aims to please too. Ask nicely and I'll let you play with him."  
His eyes shut tighter, his body ached.  
"Ugh. I prefer those of my own species, and females only."  
"More's the pity. Too bad about his leg though. Not much I can really do about that."  
"Look, just get him back to the barracks. You didn't give him Gehoa did you?"  
The other master paused for a very long time. "I, well I."  
"You moron. He'll be useless. Better to dump him quickly in the soldier barracks in that case. Better chance of him being eliminated soon."  
He lay silently. If he wasn't called on he wouldn't have to move. He nearly died of a heart attack when a clawed hand that tipped the wings of an Illian master touched him.   
"That's right my pretty. Open those big beautiful eyes."  
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.   
His eyes opened slowly to see a frighteningly familiar face.  
"Now don't be afraid, yet." There was the stomach turning feel of feathers fluttering against his skin. "Sit up. I want to enjoy this before I let you go."  
He did so, slowly. He cringed at each touch.  
"Don't fight me slave."  
"Please master. I beg of you don't!" A desperate attempt to escape the torment  
"Oh you'll beg, you'll beg."  
It started again. All those touches he now craved with a burning inside that left him feeling sick afterwards. He lay there for a long time. He would eventually fall asleep, or black out. But he would then wake up back in the slave barracks, shaking, alone, and needing for the rest of his life.  
***  
Heve finally opened his eyes. "I'm not quite sure how I survived this long."  
"Heve, I had no idea."  
"No one does, but you now. And no one else will." Heve said his eyes staring hard at Ghar. "Understand?"  
Ghar nodded. "I understand."  
Heves' eyes softened. "I don't know if you can really understand how much you help me Ghar." He got up to leave. And he couldn't bear to be in that room much longer anyway. "I must go check on the Illians we captured." He stopped just before he slipped through the exit. "Meet me in navigation in a couple hours." He didn't' really face Ghar.  
"Sure." Ghar watched Heve disappear.  
The violet-eyed Irken finally understood a lot of thing Heve had done. Leaving him alone suddenly or taking any opportunity to just reach out and touch him. It had all seemed just random things. Like Heve was just very happy to be working with Ghar. But now he understood, he knew what 'special' slaves were used for, and what they needed from others just to stay sane.   
He glanced around the Illians quarters. "He said it was called Gehoa..." 


	5. part 5

First Tallest  
  
Ghar went down the corridor tucking a small vial into a pocket as he went. Irkens were everywhere, laughing, talking, helping the few newly freed brothers to get around on their own. He couldn't help but be happy with what he had helped do.  
An Illian scream hit the air. Four Irkens jerked on the flailing avians' restraints. "Oh you fight now. Wait until the Tallest deals with you!"  
Ghar felt a growl try to escape from his throat. The possibility of battle was in the air. A fight for the Hive.  
The one time over-seer tried to rake at an Irken. A second small green creature, a soldier drone, slammed a discipline rod against the Illians' skull.  
"Do that again and you won't have to wait to see the Tallest." The drone said.  
The tension broke as the Illians' head bowed.  
Ghar glanced around the corridor. A good dozen other Irkens had halted their activities in hopes of the fight.  
"Weak birds." Ghar said as he passed the bound Illian. "Now you see why we will triumph." He left the prisoner behind. He had to get to Navigation.  
***  
"Are you sure you can find it?"  
That's what Ghar heard as he entered the Navigation bridge.  
"I am positive."   
Ghar stopped mid step. He had never seen a female before.  
The tall figure standing on Ghars' side of the table turned. "Ghar, I would like you to meet Shei, Onic, and Peia." Heve said motioning to the three females in turn. "This is Ghar, my advisor and the first to be freed besides myself."  
The females nodded to him.  
"I, greetings, or, hello." Ghar took a few steps forward to the table. "I would have thought you would still be in rehabilitation."  
The red-eyed Onic shook her head. "The Illians did not place controls in us. It would have damaged what we used for." She tapped her head.   
"They have joined us willingly." Heve said. "And it seems they have been trying to start a revolt for cycles now."  
"It is nice to see the males of our species are no longer so blinded." The purple-eyed Peia said folding her hands together. "But it was hard for us to continue when our headmistress Kena died last cycle."  
"I am sorry for your loss." Heve said.  
"It is our loss now." Shei said blinking light red eyes. "Tallest."  
"Ghar." Heve said after a moment. "They have told me they can find Irk."  
Ghar took a literal double-take. "Irk? The home-world? For real?"  
Onic nodded. "The Illians have been keeping it clean. For later use when their current mines run low. It's been merely a reference point since our abduction generations ago."  
"The home-world. Untouched." Heve said. "It has to be a dream."  
"The possibility of real free Irkens." Eyes turned to Peia.   
"It's true that there is a theory among us." Shei said. "That not every Irken was collected from Irk. There is the small possibility a hive survived down there."  
"Interesting." Heve said. "Find it if you can. I am sorry to leave you but I have prisoners to attend to and calls to make to those we had to leave behind."  
"Of course Tallest." Shei said. All three females nodded at him in respect.  
"Thank you. Ghar please follow me." Heve said backing out of the room.  
Ghar did his best to be respectful to the females as he left. But he could help feel that he had looked awkward.   
***  
Heve stood before the thirty-something Illians. "You are all prisoners of the Irken Empire."  
"Empire? A few days of freedom and you call your collection an Empire?" An Illian female said. The females of the race were highly outspoken.  
"Yes and Empire. We are one hive. The only thing your race did for us was unify us." Heve said.  
Ghar stood over to the side watching it all. The Illians stood or roosted, whatever you wished to call it, and were chained by the feet and necks to the floor. It was a facility on the transport vessel that was used to house Geme slaves. A larger species than the Irkens and often used just for heavy battle. There were very few of the race left, this holding pen had been empty for cycles.  
"You will all face your deaths." The female from before said.  
"We all face death Illian. It is only that some of us face it without fear." He paced over and crouched in front of her, just out of her small strike range. "And I see much fear in your eyes."  
He got up and walked away from the pale blue Illian. "You all will be kept here until we decide what to do with you. Pray to what you call a god that we don't keep you alive."  
Ghar followed Heve as he left. "Keep guard on them, feed them half rations." The tall Irken said to the guards.  
"Yes sir."   
***  
"We'll have to make this call short."   
"Heve." Ghar said trying to get his attention.  
"We can't have the Illians knowing that their 'disappeared' ship was overrun."  
"Heve." Ghar said more insistently.  
"Much less them knowing there are more of us free back there."  
"Heve!" Ghar grabbed one of Heves' sleeves.  
The taller of them fell silent for a moment. "Yes?" It was a weak word that was hardly heard.  
"We have to talk."  
He swallowed hard. "About what?"  
Ghar put the vial on the console. "About this."  
Even though it was closed Heve could smell the 'peach' scent. "Where did you get that?"  
"It was in the Illians quarters."  
"And just what do you think you're going to do with it?"  
"I, was thinking of taking it. You wouldn't be so alone then."  
Heve took the vial off the table and broke it on the floor. "You will not go through that. I won't let you."  
"Heve I just."  
"No!" He curled up on himself as he backed to the wall. "It's not worth it Ghar."  
"It could be."  
"It's not."   
"But."  
"I said no. Now leave. I have a call to make." He avoided Ghars' eyes.  
Ghar left slowly. "I'm sorry." The door shut.  
"Not nearly as sorry as I am." Heve said to the small empty room. 


	6. part 6

First Tallest  
  
"Incoming transmission." A multiply armed creature that was a flat gray color said through one of its three mouths. It was blind but could 'see' the electrical signals the transmitters sent out to it from the receivers.  
"What origin?" The Illian Overseer asked from his perch.  
There was a pause. "It's hard to tell sir, but it's an Irken."  
"Ugh, you take it then." The Illian said motioning to a small Irken who was also monitoring transmissions.  
"Yes sir." The small creature said meekly. He adjusted his headphones to pick up the 'voice only' message. "This is Base4523, come in."  
There was a bit of static. "Red is." There was a pause.  
Oey jumped. The code! "Purple Sir."  
There was another pause from the other end. "This is 'The Ultimate', I am Heve, who have I contacted?" A voice said. The little Irken did his best not to yelp. He was speaking with The Tallest?  
"T-this is Oey." He cast a discrete look to his Overseer who was preening.  
"Oey, how go things?"  
"All things are well." Oey said trying to sound as if this were a normal conversation, he quickly cut the recorder and sent it back enough to cover the beginning of the transmission.   
"Oey, I need you to get a message to a female named Gwon. She is at your base."  
"A female sir?" His voice was barely a whisper. "But I don't have the clearance."  
"Go to one called Guy, he will get you the clearance, but under no circumstances are you to pass the message to anyone but Gwon." Heve said. Oey was quite impressed with the strength of the tall Irkens voice.  
"I'll not fail you." Oey said.  
"Do not even write this down Oey. Just remember it."  
"Yes sir."  
"Alright. The message is..."  
***  
Heve sat back after he ended the transmission. He knew no Illian would bother to view a message sent by an Irken, much less care. He was just glad he had reached a free Irken and not one that was still a slave.  
He inhaled the scent of 'peach' from the vial he broke on the floor. It made him shiver. But it also brought back the memories. A little cleaning bot had come in and swept up the glass but the scent remained.  
He wondered if he had been too harsh with Ghar. He knew the smaller Irken had stopped taking suppressors all together. He was probably just feeling a little lonely and wanted the companionship that others had already started exploring.  
He again wondered why Ghar didn't just go with one of the others. Did he feel he owed something to Heve for freeing him?  
Heve knew he wouldn't impose anything on Ghar. He'd had things imposed on him, and all he had to show for it were scars.  
He had *almost* allowed Ghar to do it. Just before he smashed the vial he had considered it. He had actually considered allowing Ghar to subject himself to emotions far more powerful than anything he'd ever felt.  
But he hadn't.  
Maybe he should just go talk to him. Clear things up a bit between them. Yes, that might be a good idea.  
***  
Oey twitched nervously as he ran his new clearance badge through the scanner. He had seen the females before. They were not much different than a male but still different enough. He wondered if he was going to pass out.  
He jerked when the door hissed open. He took a few timid steps inside. "I, I need to speak with Gwon." He said.  
The room was a bit small but luxurious. Three female faces with varying shades of red in their eyes turned to him.  
"Why do you need to speak with her?" One of the females asked.  
"I have a message." Oey said. His blood vessels surged with his now rapid heart rate. He felt like he was going to fall over.  
"I am Gwon." A second female said standing. "Tell me this message male."  
Oey swallowed hard. "It is from Shei. Two, Five, Blue, Nine, Seventeen." He could see the surprised reaction on their faces but he continued. "Ten, One, One, Zero, Red, Yellow, Five. Red, Red, One, Three, Green, Eighteen." He sighed with relief that he was finished.  
"They're alive!" The third female cried out.  
"Alive and with free Irkens." Gwon said. She took Oeys' hand she was identical in height with him. He felt sick, good but sick. "You are part of this resistance?"   
"I-I am."  
"Come, you must tell us more." She pulled Oey to where they sat on the floor.  
"But my job. I have to get back."  
Gwon shook her head. "We will make your excuse. Come and speak freely to us. We are part of the same thing now."  
Oey sat down and told what he knew. 


	7. part 7

A/N: Woo...I'm wondering how long I'm going to be dragging this thing out...am I getting too long winded with this or is it just my imagination?  
  
First Tallest  
  
Ghar wandered the ship deep in his own thoughts. He jerked out of them when a hand touched his shoulder.  
"I am sorry." Onic said, she was wrapped in a gauzy cloth that covered her head and partly masked her face. "I did not mean to frighten you."  
"Oh, no. I just." He stopped talking. "Is there something you need?"  
"I doubt it's something I need, but perhaps something you do." She was slightly taller than him and began to direct him to the side. "Maybe even something your Heve needs. And don't try to tell me I'm wrong. I know enough to see this."  
Ghar shook his head. "I'm not so sure."  
"You have to understand." Onic said. She suddenly sat on the floor and patted the spot before her. "Sit."  
He sat down a bit reluctantly.  
"Heve is a slave that is now a ruler. He want's only to see his people in their rightful place. And doesn't know how to do it." She let the gauze fall from her face. "He is also quite 'special' is he not?"  
Ghars' eyes shot up from the ground. "How did you?"  
She held up her hands. "I have seen the look in his eyes when you walk into the room. They way he reacts to each casual touch." She folded her hands together.   
Ghar looked out towards the Commons. "I just thought I could help him."  
"You can and you are." She said bringing his attention back to her. "Most like him are left with scars. He's afraid he'll hurt you like he was hurt."  
"How do you even know all this?" He asked.  
"Observation says a lot of things." She said. Through this whole thing her voice had been so calm. "I predict there will come a time when he will realize that he couldn't hurt you if he tried. You will have to be there for him until then and be there when he comes to you."  
"But that could take so long." Ghar said sounding frustrated.  
She titled her head and smiled. "It may not be as long as you fear." She motioned behind him.  
He twisted around a little to look where she pointed. Heve stood off to the side watching them. He seemed nervous about something.  
"Ghar." He turned to her voice. "Go."  
He stood up. "Thank you Onic." He walked over to Heve.  
She watched them meet and exchange a few words, then walk off together through the masses of other Irkens.  
"You are most welcome brother Irken." She said feeling very pleased with herself.  
***  
An Irken ran panic stricken through the halls screaming out. "Prison break!"  
Other Irkens turned to him.   
"One Illian! Escaped!" The Irken screamed once in the company of others.  
"Escaped? How?" One asked.  
"He was in the back." He gasped. "We found his cuffs picked." He inhaled trying to catch his breath. "The ones in the front drew our attention and he made a break."  
"You get the Tallest. The rest of you come with me, we'll find him." The tallest Irken of the warned group said.  
***  
"Tallest, Tallest!" A small Irken ran up to Heve as he was trying to talk more with Ghar.  
"What is it?" Heve asked.  
"Illian. Escape." The Irken gasped falling to his knees.  
"An Illian escaped?" Heve said, he whirled on Ghar. "Go to the females. Ensure that they are safe and then stay with them."  
Ghar hesitated. "But what about."  
"Just go."  
Ghar took off as fast as his little legs could carry him.  
Heve lifted the exhausted Irken up on his feet. "Take me there."  
***  
Ghar nearly tripped on his way to the females. It was dark down these corridors. He stopped. Oh great, was he lost?  
He twisted his head around trying to get his bearings when he was lifted off the ground. "Hey!"  
Angry avian eyes glared into his. "Get lost did we little one?" The Illian hissed. He threw Ghar across the hall slamming him into a wall. "I know that one, that tall one." The Illian went on approaching the stunned Ghar. "You'll be happy to know your leader was once a very eager slave." He picked Ghar up again.  
Ghar blinked, everything was fuzzy and his arm hurt.  
"As, I'm sure, you will be too." The Illian said. "So small, so fragile. I've seen you around that one. That tall one. You must be important." He shook Ghar hard sending the small Irken into blackness. "A good hostage indeed."  
***  
It was silent alert. All Irkens who were once soldier drones took up their weapons and ushered those who were labor slaves into safety. Smaller troops went out in fours in search of the escaped Illian. The remaining birds were under maximum watch. Each with a laser trained at their head.  
Heve stormed along a corridor with three other Irkens. He lifted his wrist com up. "Ghar, how are the females?" He got no response. "Ghar?" He changed frequencies. "Shei, this is Heve, I'm having trouble raising Ghar, has he arrived to you yet?"  
A bit of static and then. "No my Tallest. Ghar has not been seen for some time."  
He stopped dead in his tracks. The other Irkens stopped and looked at him.  
"I sent him to you. He never arrived?"  
"No my Tallest."  
Heve narrowed his eyes. He turned around motioning the rest of the troop following him. They crossed the commons where a few dozen soldiers stood guarding the largest amount of space on the ship.  
They got only part of the way through the common area when a screechy call sounded. "Slave!"  
A pale blue mass of feathers landed behind Heve.  
The Illian turned wide cruel eyes to him. Immediately laser weapons were trained on the one-time master.  
"Tell them to stand down." The Illian hissed.  
Heves' eyes twitched. "Give me a reason to not kill you now."  
Low wings only capable of the downward glide the Illian had preformed opened to reveal a small Irken form held by the collar of his clothes.  
Purple eyes, one swollen shut, tried to look about but most of his senses had been knocked out of him.  
"Ghar..."  
"Ah, so you are that attached to him." The Illian said. "Now have them stand down before I crush his skull."  
Heve lifted a hand, the weapons went down.  
"Let him go Illian, and you will not be harmed."  
The Illian squawked. "Me give up to you?" It rumbled with the Illian equivalent of laughter. "Stand down for good slave and I'll be sure you all survive once we reach the mining planets."  
There was an automatic raise in tension among the remaining soldier drones.  
"Not going to do it?" The Illian asked. "Perhaps you want the truth about your beloved leader."  
"What truth would that be?" Heve half demanded.   
"What you are. How you started my little slave, my beautiful one." He held Ghar closer to him for protection. "He is what you lowly creatures call a 'special slave'. Born to serve and made into whatever the owner wanted."  
The others noted that their Tallest was a few shades paler.   
"You were mine."  
Heve stood a moment then blinked. Somewhere behind the Illian an Irken soldier lifted his weapon and fired.  
The bolt slid neatly through the Illians arm/wing severing its hold on Ghar. The 'hand' that was holding the small Irken spasmed releasing him as both he and the appendage hit the ground.  
The Illian squealed in pain as three Irkens tackled him.  
"You think we are that weak do you?" One them demanded. He had pale red eyes. "I was yours as well Mi'ika, you bastard." He smashed the butt of his weapon into the Illians face.  
"Foy stand down!"  
The pale eyed Irken Foy glared but did as his Tallest commanded. "This one will get his punishment." Heve knelt down by Ghar who was already being checked over by the first Irken to reach him. "Call the medical staff. Is anyone else hurt?"  
There was a round of 'no's.   
Bruised purple eyes opened a little. "Heve?"  
"Yes it's alright." Heve said touching carefully over Ghars' many hurts. "You're safe."  
"I, he." There were some tears.  
"Please my Tallest. I need to reach him."  
Heve turned to the suddenly appeared medic.  
"Of course." Heve stood up and backed away. "Keep me posted on his health."  
"Tallest? What of him?"   
Foy barely twitched and brought his weapon back to the fallen Illians' head. "I say give him death."  
"No."  
Eyes turned to Heve.  
"Not yet. He will serve us better as an example."  
***  
"My Tallest!" The young medic seemed flustered at the sudden appearance of his leader. "I didn't know you would be coming so soon. I had thought the execution would still be going on."  
"It is done." Was all the taller Irken said. "Is he awake?"  
The medic nodded. "He is."  
Heve paused and opened the door to the small recuperation room. The small medic was about to object when a pair of small hands landed on his shoulder.  
"No, no, let them be." It was one the females, Onic. "Your patient is in the best hands available now." Her red eyes caught of inside the room.   
Heve sat down on the bed as Ghar sat up. There was a slow motion as Heve closed his eyes and touched his forehead to the smaller Irkens'.  
She closed the door and led the medic away. "Give them their time. They won't have much of that in days to come." 


	8. part 8

A/N: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  
  
First Tallest  
  
The ring of Illian leaders glared at the image of the now highly recognizable Heve.   
"Fool creature, your demands fall on deaf ears!" An Illian who was a darker blue than the others.  
"We only want our freedom." Heve said calmly. "I know have a large part of your space armada in my control. Do not force me to bring war."  
"War? Fight us with our own ships? Preposterous!" A female Illian squawked.  
"Not so farfetched as you might think." Heve said rather darkly. "We have many great minds aboard who have redesigned your pathetic slave vessels into warships."  
"You're bluffing." Another Illian spat.  
"Then I will prove it." The screen suddenly went blank.  
The Illians cooed in confusion and frustration. Suddenly a light blinked on and a second monitor came on. "Sirs! The Salvage station Omina twelve!"  
"What about it?" The first Illian demanded.  
"It's gone!"  
"GONE?"  
"Blown to bits! We're getting pelted with shrapnel!" The Illian paused and looked somewhere off to his left. "What? By She'rika! We're being attacked!"  
The image on the monitor rocked sharply and the Illian fell over. Three green blurs ran past the screen, there was a terrible squealing sound.  
Suddenly a small Irken face appeared glowering menacingly at the collected Illians. "For the Empire!" The Irken screamed in a rather small and squeaky voice then he broke the camera with a section of pipe.  
There was a moment of silent shock. Then the room erupted in frightened squawking and calls.  
"Order! Order!" The darker Illian cried out.   
The room calmed a little.  
"We are Illians! Remember that! Stronger than these, these, Irkens!" The last word was spit out like it was dirty. "Round up the other Irken slaves, test them for their suppressors and their control devices, slaughter the ones that think freely. We will not fail!"  
There was a rush of agreement and the other Illians cheered their leader for his quick thinking.  
***  
Oey, the little Irken who had been promoted without any signature from an Illian crouched quietly behind an oddly designed table in the females quarters. He was being sought after for testing. A bright-red eyed female named Inna was in the room keeping watch over his hiding place.  
Since females had not control devices implanted they were immune to the check. But still Illians would scour their rooms looking for any proof that they might not be loyal.  
"You say no males that have no business with you have come here?" The extremely pale blue Illian asked.  
"I assure you mighty sir, no unauthorized Irken or any other race of slave has been here." Inna said bowing her head in respect but keeping the gauzy shawl drawn tightly around her face.  
The Illian huffed a little but shuffled out of the room.  
Once the door shut Inna pressed a small button on the base of a nearby table with sent a controlled the single security camera in the room. It fed one of hundreds of carefully constructed loops into the system. "You can come out now Oey."  
The red-eyed male wriggled out of his hiding place. He absolutely adored Inna ever since she sat him down and taught him what little the female knew of the old Irken culture.  
"I don't want to hide anymore Inna." He said fidgeting a little.  
"You have to. Our Tallest relies on you." Inna put a hand on his shoulder.  
"But the others are dying!" He whined low in his throat.  
"Only twelve have been identified as traitors. And that's out of thousands that they've checked. Their system is highly flawed." She reasoned. "No fight for freedom is without its casualties." She stroked one of his antenna. "Lament for them my friend but do not let your thoughts only reside with them."  
He often marveled at the drastic differences in their speech patterns. "I can't help it. They were Irken."  
She put one of her hands over his mouth and touched her forehead to his in a widely accepted gesture of affection. "Yes they were Irken, they will be remembered for their lives given so that others might live free." She lifted her head from his. "Now, you have duties to attend to soldier."   
He nodded and reached to a hidden compartment taking out a small container that held bright violet contacts. He put them on successfully changing his identity. "I'll be back."   
She nodded and let him leave. "Luck be with you."  
He half-smiled back and let the door slide shut.  
***  
"Thank you Oey." Heve said. "Our hopes go to the others. I'm sorry to hear about those of us that were caught."  
"And our hopes to you as well." The other Irken said. "Keep free."  
Heve nodded. "Keep free." The transmission was cut.  
He turned in his chair glancing to the small figure asleep on a bed in the corner. He smiled to himself. Ghar never ceased to amaze him in his enthusiasm, or his deep sleeping habits.  
He reached over and pulled a blanket farther over Ghar. No Irken could stand to sleep in the rock hard bed of an Illian. They were insanely uncomfortable. They preferred twisted blankets on the floors to the slave barracks of clumps of straw in concrete cubicles.  
There was a knock on the door. He gave Ghar one more look then went to the door opening it.  
"My Tallest! I, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean." He had caught sight of Ghar who had woken up and was sitting up in the nest of blankets.  
"No, no." Heve said stopping the Irken from taking off. "You did not interrupt. Did you come with news?"  
"Yes sir, we found it!"  
"Found it?" Heve asked quite confused.  
"Irk sir!"  
Heve's eyes widened. "Irk? For certain?"  
The Irken nodded furiously. "Yes sir! Our split off armada has control of the checkpoint in the area. It's definitely Irk sir!"  
"I'll be to the bridge soon, warn the crew."   
"Yes my Tallest!" The Irken dashed off.  
Heve laughed as he shut the door and bent down sweeping Ghar up into the air. "They found it!"  
"What?" Ghar asked finally shaken out of his sleep-clouded stupor.  
"Irk!" Heve hugged Ghar closer. "They found *home*!"  
"That's wonderful!" Ghar said. His eyes shot open suddenly. "Heve please! You're supposed to go to the bridge! We don't have *time* for that!" His face flushed a darker green.  
"Sorry." He set Ghar down. "Get dressed, I'll meet you there."  
"Go then!" Ghar said trying to push the much taller Irken to the door.  
Heve almost skipped out of the room startling a passing Irken soldier with his cry of happiness.  
Ghar shook his head and searched for the rest of his uniform. 


End file.
